The father of Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin, Mikhail Ovechkin, was buried on Saturday, February 18, at the Dolgoprudnensky cemetery.
At parting with Mikhail Ovechkin, Alexander Ovechkin himself was present, who had previously arrived in Moscow from the United States.
Together with him at the ceremony were the Olympic hockey champion Ilya Kovalchuk, representatives of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, as well as the Dynamo football and hockey club.
Ovechkin Sr. was a footballer in the past and played for the Dynamo Moscow club.
Earlier, on February 15, the hockey player announced that his father had died at the age of 71. He thanked everyone for their support and asked for understanding and not to disturb his family in the near future.
On the same day, Russian hockey player, coach of Moscow CSKA Sergei Fedorov expressed his condolences to the player of the National Hockey League (NHL).
As Izvestia learned, back on February 10, Ovechkin’s father was hospitalized with an exacerbation of a chronic illness – a dissecting aneurysm. During the examination, doctors discovered a malignant neoplasm in the father of the hockey player and transferred him to a specialized hospital.
Later, on February 14, Washington Capitals general manager Brian McLellan announced that Ovechkin had temporarily left the club for family reasons. The Washington Capitals also prepared a video in memory of the father of their captain and striker. On the video, which is accompanied by archival footage of the Ovechkin family, Alexander Ovechkin told how his father influenced his career, said “Sport Express”.
